The mission of the Douglas County School System is to provide a quality education for all students in a safe, supportive environment. A safe and effective learning environment is paramount to the success of students. The safety of our students and staff members is the highest priority of our school system and many measures are in place and monitored to keep students and staff safe on a daily basis. Such measures include: photo ID badges for all employees, security cameras in all schools, School Resource Officers in each middle and high school, BLAST (Bringing Life and Skills Together) officers assigned to each elementary school, AED’s (Automated External Defibrillators) located in each school, hand held metal detectors in middle and high schools, identification required for student checkout, requiring all visitors to sign in, and video surveillance on school buses. We maintain a great working relationship with our local sheriff, police and fire department, which is vital to ensuring the safety of our students.

As a part of our continued efforts to provide a safe environment for our students and staff, last year we installed video secure access (buzz-in) systems in each of our elementary and middle schools. The main entrance to each school is equipped with a security camera and intercom. After the start of each school day, doors are locked and all parents and visitors are required to push an intercom button and state their name and the purpose of their visit prior to gaining entry into the school. School staff makes a visual and verbal determination prior to granting visitors access to the school. In addition, all visitors will continue to be asked to provide photo identification, sign in and wear a visitor badge while in the school.

Being prepared for a crisis or emergency is as important as providing a safe environment on a daily basis. It is important that our parents and community know that our schools are prepared in the event of an emergency or crisis. We work closely with federal, state and local emergency management agencies in planning our community’s response to potential threats. Crisis and Safety Plans are developed each year at the District and School level and approved by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and the Georgia Office of Homeland Security. Crisis and Safety Plans provide step-by-step guides for how principals and administrators should respond to a wide variety of scenarios ranging from tornados and fire to hazardous material spills. Flexibility in the event of an emergency is a key component of each school’s plan. Schools conduct response drills several times during the school year. While most know that schools conduct fire drills, schools also have severe weather drills, bomb threat drills and lock down drills in order to respond should the need arise.

It is imperative that schools be able to contact parents in the event of emergency or crisis. Having accurate and current phone numbers, including cell phones, as well as email addresses on file at all times at school is vital for emergency notification purposes. The school district uses a mass notification system called Parentlink to keep parents informed about urgent issues. The system uses the parent contact information on file to send phone calls, emails and/or text messages immediately when the need arises.

If you have concerns about your child’s safety, please contact the principal of the school your child attends. An anonymous local School Safety Hot-Line has also been established to report knowledge of anyone or anything that could endanger the lives of students and/or faculty of any school. The local School Safety Hot-Line number is 770-651-2395. The Georgia Department of Education also provides a hotline, which will be answered by a staff member or the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The State Safety Hot-Line number is 1-877-SAY-STOP.

Through careful planning, training, and drills, as well as our partnerships with local law enforcement, fire departments, EMT, and the community, we will continue to make safety in our schools our top priority.